Fairlight

The Land of Fairlight was once a happy, jolly place — but this
is no longer the case. More than three thousand years have passed since the
worthy King Avars held court over the land from his Castle, and the whole
county is enveloped in gloom and despondency. The Light has gone from the land,
and the days are perpetually grey and gloomy when once the sun shone endlessly
in clear blue skies. Over the years, partly as a result of a series of weak
rulers, the social fabric of Fairlight declined — the people once lived happily
in a peaceful land, full of music, jollity and magic. Now the county has a
feudal system; society is fragmented, overseen by merchants and barons.

Castle Avars stands alone in the middle of the plain of Avarslund,
impenetrable and surrounded in rumour and myth. Folktales suggest that a
perpetual summer shines within the castle; other myths tell of Segar the
Immortal who dwells within the castle, awaiting the moment to return, when
he’ll bring Light back to the land.

Isvar is the reluctant hero of this game, which forms the first part of the
Chronicles of the Land of Fairlight and is subtitled A Prelude: The
Light Revealed. Musing one day on the state of life he decides to enter
Ogri’s Wood — a wood that is universally acclaimed as dangerous. Ignoring the
wisdom of the Elders, (Isvar is sure they must be hiding something — perhaps a
great treasure) he enters the wood and is captured by the woman-monster Ogri
and carried off to her cave, unconscious.

When Isvar comes round, Ogri has departed. The figure of a old man in a
hooded cloak appears before him and tells Isvar that he is now on the shelf of
Ogri’s larder! Not one for being eaten, Isvar follows the old man out of the
cave towards Castle Avars. Suddenly an entrance opens up in a wall that
moments before was featureless. Isvar is in the castle and the old man explains
that he is the court sorcerer of King Avars and has been imprisoned for
thousands of years. Then the old man disappears — the figure which lured Isvar
into the castle was merely an apparition, created by the imprisoned sorcerer
for just that purpose. Isvar is now trapped in the castle, and can only
escape by finding the Book of Light hidden within its walls and taking it to
the sorcerer.

Isvar, the character you control, is moved round in a world which is not
only three-dimensional in aspect, but realistic in terms of the way objects
behave. Isvar has five pockets in which he can store objects he collects — but
each object has a mass and obeys the laws of physics. Push a chair and it will
move quite a long way; push a table and it moves less far. You can pick up and
carry several pieces of food, for instance, as each is quite light but if you
try to carry a barrel you will find that it is so heavy that Isvar has to drop
everything else first. Objects may be called from a specified pocket, when they
will be displayed on the little scroll next to the life counter, and can then
be used. This scroll also acts as the display area, where messages to do with
the manipulation of objects — such as ‘too heavy’ — appear. Isvar’s life force
is also shown.

Isvar begins with a life force of 99 units, shown on a counter on the
scroll. This counter is decremented by encounters with the trolls, guards and
other nasties that patrol the castle and may be topped up by eating food or
drinking wine that can be found here and there. Isvar can fight and kill some
of the nasties, using his sword, but other opponents are not in the least
perturbed by his efforts and are best avoided completely.

Each location in the castle is colour coded — which helps you keep your
bearings while you explore. All the open air locations, for instance, are blue.
As you leave one room or location, the screen will go blank for a couple of
seconds while the change is made, then the new location flashes onto the
screen, ready drawn. If a location is filled with other moving figures, Isvar
slows down a bit — but in an empty room he can really motor! During gameplay,
silence reigns, but music fans will really appreciate the two channel
simulation at the start which pushes the Spectrum’s Beeper to the limit!

CRITICISM

‘Bo Jangeborg has certainly come up with an excellent
new system for creating 3D representations of rooms and the objects contained
in them. Playing Fairlight is a little tricky at first, owing to the
number of keys that you have to master but once the initial awkwardness is
overcome it’s great fun shoving things around the place and piling objects on
top of one another to make ramps which Isvar can climb. Very soon you do feel
as if you are playing in a real world and although the pauses between rooms are
a bit annoying, the links are made very well. Overall an excellent game, with
first rate graphics — worth getting hold of to play not just to look
at.’

‘Wow, amazing, brill, trif, fab, awesome and other such
noises... I’ve never seen a game that looks as good as this. What excellent
graphics! This knocks Filmation and Filmation 2 into a cocked hat. And there’s
a game behind the graphics too — what more could I ask for? Sound. There isn’t
any during the game, but the intro music makes up for it. Control is awkward
and takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, playing
becomes second nature. The only thing that is a little infuriating is that the
screen blacks out every time you change location. I strongly recommend this
game to everyone: it’s very playable and addictive and it looks so
good.’

‘Ultimate first introduced us to realistic 3D graphics but
sadly not a lot of game was bolted on to them. Now, thanks to The Edge, that
gap has been filled. Fairlight features very high quality graphics and
a good tune at the start of the game. While the game is fun to play the desire
to see the other screens makes you want to solve puzzles to get nearer the end
effect. Controlling Isvar and manipulating objects is very easy and using a bit
of brain power it’s not long before you are well and truly hooked. It’s hard to
say whether Fairlight will appeal to arcade fanatics but I’m sure there
are few people who could actually say the game is useless! The Edge have come
up with a very good arcade adventure with 3D graphics that should rate in
everybody’s top 10.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Y-P up and right; H-ENTER down and left;
Q-T up and left; A-G down and right; SYMBOL SHIFT/SPACE jump; B-M fight; X-V
pickup; CAPS/Z drop; 1-5 select objects; 6/7 use object selectedJoystick: KempstonKeyboard play: responsive, but easier on rubber ones!Use of colour: only black and a second colour used in each locationGraphics: a stunning new technique for 3D representationSound: cunningly simulated two-channel music to begin with, otherwise silenceSkill levels: oneScreens: 80General rating:a stunning game, achieved with a new programming technique